


Catharsis

by Operator Yaku (TheHonkmaster)



Series: Post-Prometheus Series [2]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Blood, Body Horror, Emetophobia, Gore, Nudity, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 12:36:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14261109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHonkmaster/pseuds/Operator%20Yaku





	Catharsis

In the belly of Jabali’s Orbiter, mere meters from his somatic link, he and Yaku’ sat facing each other. 

Jabali shifted uncomfortably on his knees as he leaned in, thumbing strips of material over Yaku’’s somatic implants and cognitive relay. “This material does two things: it marks the implants as part of your body – that way the Entity won’t try and purge them and potentially rupture something important – and it repurposes the brain signals from your cognitive relay into a way for Charls to monitor your vitals. If anything goes wrong that I don’t know about, they’ll be able to adjust… whatever the hell they’re doing and compensate for the difference. Lie back.”

As Yaku’ obeyed, Jabali reached out to the Entity with his Void energy. From the pit behind the somatic link a single tendril of viscous fluid arose, swaying from side to side. Jabali extended a hand as if to beckon the tendril, his palm beginning to glow a subtle bluish-white, and the tendril twitched and slid across the floor of the Transference room.

_Champion._

Jabali’s heart skipped a beat at the voice inside his head. “Hello, Entity,” he murmured, lowering his hand so the tendril could slither up his arm. “Yaku’, you remember the Entity, don’t you?”

“You said it would burn me if I touched it.”

Jabali examined the fluid as it spread to cover his arm and shoulder, glancing across the room as more fluid rose and spread across the floor. “It won’t burn you now. It will hurt, though, you know that.”

Yaku’ tried to sit up. “I’m not turning back, Jabali. I need you to purge me. I don’t want something to go wrong.”

Jabali pushed them back down with his free hand. “I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. Do you want to wait for Huon?” he asked, forcing his thoughts away from the similarities between Huon and Orion.

“He’s not coming.”

“…What?”

“He’s got other stuff to do. He said there were a bunch of clones that defected and that he’s gotta take care of it.”

“Did you even tell him that this was happening today?”

“Nope.” Yaku’ ignored Jabali’s glare. “I don’t want him to worry. It’s been rescheduled three times because Huon couldn’t make it and I’m done waiting. I want the Infestation out of me.”

The Entity caressed Jabali’s cheek with a thin tendril, the rest of it now coating the floor of the Transference room almost entirely. It surrounded Yaku’ with only a finger’s width of space separating the two; the fluid slid across Jabali’s body and rippled with each of his breaths. 

_Are they ready, champion?_

Jabali shook his head and sighed. “Alright. That’s your choice.”

——————————————————————————————

“Huon, it’s really not necessary for you to be here.”

Huon stared at the Tenno standing in his way. One of the Meridian generals, Rona, stared back with the featureless face of her Excalibur. A beat of silence stretched between the two before Rona turned to face him fully, crossed her arms and letting the slim datapad hang from her fingers. “Huon.”

The Meridian captain crossed his arms, too, and made no move to leave. “Show me the clones.”

Even though the Excalibur didn’t have eyes, Huon could tell Rona rolled hers at him. “It’s not your job, Huon. I was called here, not you. You need to leave.”

“No. Show me the clones.”

Rona sighed and uncrossed her arms to look at the datapad. “There are about fifty of them. All I know is that they’re all from the same strain and they’re part of an elite unit in the Grineer military. Look, I need to get to the clones before someone else swoops in and snatches them out from under us. You need to go back to whatever you were doing before this.”

Huon shook his head and drew himself to his full height. “I don’t trust you with Grineer. Get out of my way, I’m handling this,” he grumbled, pushing past Rona into the east wing of the relay.

The sight of fifty clones spilling out of the Steel Meridian’s enclave brought him to a sudden halt. Fifty clones wearing ornate armor and the same familiar face; it was a face whose nose he’d broken for refusing to tell him the last known location of his partner – for calling him unworthy of his partner’s love – and that he hadn’t seen for ages. It was a face that was perfect, even when it split into a grin stained red. 

It was Sinne’s face.

Huon swore violently and turned away, moving to punch the wall but pulling the blow at the last second to only tap it with his knuckles. He swore again and pressed his forehead to the wall, letting out a low groan. Rona sidled up behind him, gazing at her datapad. “Told you. Too many, huh? Big guy can’t handle fifty clones?”

“Shut up,” Huon snapped through gritted teeth. “I know the genetic base for all of them. They’re a complete dick.”

Rona made a noncommittal noise and sighed; the arm holding the datapad fell to her side and she glanced at Huon, who had taken to banging his head against the wall. “Well, I’ve already gotten started on getting their information logged, so… you’re not needed here. You can leave.”

“I’m not leaving. I don’t trust you. I’m staying here and I’m supervising these Grineer because the only reason you became a general in the first place was because you got into Cressa Tal’s pants.”

“Now, hold on–” Rona started. 

Huon heard the frown in her voice and the anger rising behind it. “I’m not taking your shit, Rona. If you don’t want to be around me, you’re more than welcome to get out. I’m staying here whether you like it or not.”

Rona huffed. “Fine. Just stay out of my way.”

“Absolutely  _fucking_ not. I’m getting knee-deep in this shit because the only reason you stick around with the Meridian is for Cressa Tal.” Huon turned and started walking towards the clones, leaving an irate Rona standing at the east wing’s entrance.

“That hasn’t even  _happened!”_ she yelled. There was an unspoken ‘yet’ hidden in her tone.

——————————————————————————————

Jabali traced the paths made by the Infestation and Lephantis. He was in Yaku’’s mind, following the influence from the outside in. In the times before when he’d purged strangers, the procedure was simple: find the influence and obliterate it, taking swathes of their memories and sometimes personalities with it. With Yaku’ he needed to be more careful; even small mistakes would clear away parts of their persona.

The most recent instance of the influence was, of course, Lephantis’ work. Part of Jabali  _wanted_ to cut out the past year, to relieve them of their burden and trauma. The curious thing was that it looked like something had already tried to do that.

He hovered around the blot in their memory, examining it from all sides as the Void hummed inside him. The Entity also zeroed in on the blot, its tendrils twitching uncertainly.

_This is most unusual, Champion. This has not been witnessed before except by your hand. Whose work is this?_

Jabali threaded his Void energy through the blot, feeling his way through the torn memory. He found the ragged edges and slowly fed the Void energy to the blot, gradually restoring the fabric of the memory. As it reformed, the tamperer became more obvious. “It’s Lephantis’ work,” he murmured, watching the blot come together.

_Lephantis is Infested; the Infestation should not be able to tear memories. Champion, what are your thoughts?_

”It’s ancient, as are you. If one has the ability to tear memories, why not the other? We know the Infestation affects things on the physiological and psychological level already – Alad V is a prime example of that – so I see no reason why it shouldn’t be able to affect memories. Y’know, psychological level and all that. You get it.” 

The memory, now almost fully reformed, played back.

Eight crude, mangled copies of Yaku’ hauled a figure across the spongy floor beneath them. The figure shivered violently in the frigid air and Lephantis’ voice rang out, ordering Yaku’ to kill the figure; they refused to acknowledge it. The figure was hauled to their knees and the copies – the Infested siblings, as Lephantis and Yaku’ had recognized the creations as such – tore off the figure’s mask and hood…

…revealing Sinne beneath, their rich brown hair falling over their chest. Jabali’s breath caught and his heart thudded wildly as the memory continued, Yaku’’s body cupping Sinne’s face with a taloned hand. He could only watch as the talons sank into Sinne’s face and ripped a hole through their flesh. He could feel Yaku’’s final protests as Sinne’s body toppled to the ground and he could feel their spirit breaking at Lephantis’ words.  _No one is coming for you,_ the Infested monstrosity rumbled.  _No one cares._

The memory faded into normalcy and Jabali exhaled shakily. “Is that what they’ve been going through?” he whispered, still staring at the empty space in Yaku’’s mind.

_It would seem so. Continue the purging, Champion._

Jabali hesitated, then obeyed and followed the influence’s path in silence, carefully clearing the Infestation from his sibling’s mind. A full year of being controlled by the Infestation – by Lephantis – proved to be difficult to remove. Before, he could simply rid his patient of the influence in one fell swoop, no matter how long they were Infested. Yaku’ was different and the strain on Jabali was beginning to make itself known the further he progressed.

It was around the conception of Yaku’’s Infestation that he realized something was wrong. Their mind was starting to push back, to resist him as he got closer and closer to the origin point. “Yaku’, let me do this,” he muttered, guiding the Entity along the influence’s path.

Yaku’’s mind slammed against him, stopping him in his tracks. Though they couldn’t speak to him while the both of them were in this state, they were more than capable of getting their point across. They didn’t want him to go any further in their mind; something lurked behind the wall they set in front of him, something they didn’t want him to see.

“I have to get past this if I want to get rid of the Infestation. If I leave it, the influence stays. If I leave it, the  _Infestation_ stays. It’s not a percentage thing, Yaku’. I can’t just ignore  _some_ of the influence. It’s all or nothing. I can’t leave now, and I won’t go forth without your consent.”

No answer.

“Yaku’,  _please._ The origin point of the influence is only going to spread more after I’m done. This isn’t nipping it in the bud, this is uprooting the entire plant.”

Still no answer. If anything, the force stopping Jabali from continuing only fortified itself further. The Entity’s tendrils twitched in mild annoyance and it turned its attention to Jabali.

_If they do not let you past willingly, you will have to break through. No job goes unfinished, Champion. You know this. They are your sibling, yes, but they are upsetting the balance. Purge them or you will all face the consequences._

At the Entity’s words, Yaku’’s mind turned outright  _hostile._

_——————————————————————————————  
_

Rona had Huon pinned against the wall like a Terran butterfly, her hand wrapped firmly around his throat. “I gave you three chances, Huon. I let you stay here, watching, for hours and you do nothing but disrespect me. Keep in mind that I’m  _allowing_ this; I’m your general. You’re nothing more than a captain, and I’m telling you to get. Out,” she snarled, leaning forwards so her Excalibur’s faceplate nearly touched Huon’s nose.

Huon growled and gripped her Warframe’s wrist with both hands, twisting his head and forcing Rona’s hand lower on his throat. Rona gave a short huff and simply pinned him again with her free hand, holding him at arm’s length. “Leave, Huon. You’re done h–”

_”Say,”_ a voice piped up from behind the two, the owner somewhere in the crowd of clones, “how ‘bout I give you fellas a job? Good pay, nice living quarters, not too difficult. Tell you what, I’ll even throw in a lifetime guarantee. What kind of guarantee, you ask? Well, that’s for you to find out! I mean, who wants to work for the Steel Meridian anyways? Bunch o’ jarheads who quarrel among themselves – just look at the two over there!”

Rona swiveled and Huon tilted his head to look at the clones. A shock of aqua hair, more green than blue, moved between the shifting, huge, muscular bodies, occasionally disappearing in the sea of ornate armor. Metallic tapping, almost like footsteps, became audible over the low murmuring between the clones. A mixture of Hasinai, Grineer, and Orokin filled the room; for a brief moment Huon wished Yaku’ was here to translate what he couldn’t understand.

“Excuse me,” Rona started, stepping away from Huon and turning to fully face the crowd, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Ronnie!” the voice exclaimed. “So nice to see– er,  _hear_ you again. ‘Scuse me, fellas, I need to get through!”

The clones parted and a figure practically skipped up to Rona on a pair of curved metallic prosthetics. Huon leaned to the side to get a better view of the figure, rubbing his throat. They looked Corpus in nature, with tattoos nearly the same shade as their hair creeping up their throat and, Huon assumed, down their torso into their loose shirt.

_”Mek.”_ Rona’s voice dripped with malice and she crossed her arms, the faceplate of her Excalibur aimed directly at the figure. “What do you want?”

“Oh,  _Ronnie._ Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie,” Mek purred, their grin almost predatory. “I’m here to take these  _wonderful_ clones off your hands! Don’t tell me you have the space for  _fifty extra Meridian soldiers._ I’ve run the numbers; you don’t. Just hand the responsibility over to me!”

“They’re Grineer. You’re ex-Corpus. You hate each other.” Even behind the Warframe’s impassive face, Huon could tell Rona was glaring.

“On the contrary, my dearest Ronnie!” Mek turned and gestured at the clones with a flourish. “I knew their genetic base for some time! And,” they said, turning back to Rona and winking, “I mean  _intimately.”_

Huon pushed off the wall. “’Knew’?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, yes. You see, Sinne is presumed…  _dead!_  That’s why all these wonderful clones are here. Without their leader, they want nothing to do with the Grineer! Now, seeing as how Sinne and I had quite the tumultuous and steamy relationship–”

“Something neither one of us needed to know,” Rona grumbled.

“–the responsibility of these wonderful clones falls to me!” Mek finished.

“I have spent the better part of eight hours cataloguing each and every one of these goddamn clones and dealing with  _this_ jackass,” Rona seethed, pointing at Huon, “so if you think I’m going to let you step in and just steal them out from under me, you–”

“Let’s go, fellas!” Mek called.

To Rona and Huon’s shock, every single clone turned and began following the comparatively tiny ex-Corpus out of the wing. If Rona’s Excalibur was capable of it, her jaw would be on the floor.

“You– they– the clones, I’m–” Rona sputtered, her entire Warframe shaking with barely contained fury.

“Who was–”

_”Fucking credit whore!”_ Rona screamed, kicking and subsequently shattering a billboard beside her. “I  _hate_  Mek! I hate them! I spent all that time and effort dealing with you and cataloguing the  _fucking_ clones and they just waltz right in and snatch them out from under me! As if the tiny bastard doesn’t already have enough credits to buy ten squadrons of premium clones from the Grineer! No, no, they have to take  _my_ soldiers  _just_ because they look like someone they fucked once.  _Damnit!”_

Rona turned, already starting to point at Huon, only to find that he’d slipped away. She screamed again and began heading towards the Simulacrum, intent on working off some steam.

——————————————————————————————

Jabali jerked his shaking hands away from Yaku’’s bleeding body. “Yaku’…” he breathed, staring wide-eyed at his sibling.

The younger Tenno’s limbs twitched weakly as they coughed and gasped for air, looking for all the world like a fish out of water. Blood spilled from their nose and mouth and more had begun to trickle from the corners of their eyes. One hand formed a fist that pounded against the hard floor and they flopped onto their side, vomiting blood over the Entity’s fluid.

“You  _ate_ someone?” Jabali whispered.

Yaku’ pushed themself up with one arm and glared at Jabali. “Finish it,” they spat.

“I-I don’t…”

“You disregarded my boundaries. You pushed past when I didn’t want you to. You did this, now  _finish it.”_

The Entity shifted and hovered behind Jabali, its glow intensifying as if to warn Yaku’. Jabali shivered, looking down at his hands. “…Okay.”

——————————————————————————————

“Yaku’, I’m back,” Huon called as he opened the door to the suite. The lack of an answer wasn’t immediately alarming – they were asleep more often than they were awake – and he crept into the bedroom, making a quiet beeline for the nest of blankets and pillows and the small shape hidden inside.

He sat slowly, doing his best not to startle the sleeping figure. “Yaku’…? It’s Huon,” he murmured, moving several blankets aside. “Ya– _Scoy?”_

The smaller Meridian lifted their head sleepily and peered up at Huon. They barely got his name out before Huon was up and gone, the suite’s door slamming shut behind him.

He raced through the relay, grabbing bystanders and demanding the location of his partner as he edged towards panic. “Small, probably has an eyepatch, shaved head. Where are they? Have you seen them?”

By the fifth “no”, Huon was well past  _edging._ His heart pounded in time with his feet and he shoved through a crowd, stumbling into the hangar. “Yaku’!  _Yaku’!”_ he roared, turning in circles and searching for their ship.

“Huon!” Charls stood at the far end of the hangar, waving and clutching a datapad to their chest. “Huon, here! Quit yelling, jeez.”

He ran up to them and grabbed them by the shoulders, crouching. “Where’s Yaku’?” he panted.

“They’re… with Jabali.” Charls gave him a questioning look. “Why?”

_”What!?”_ Huon’s grip tightened on Charls’ shoulders. “Are you sure?”

“Uh, yeah. I just finished setting up a recovery room for them in the Orbiter. Huon, why?”

Huon released Charls and ran his hands through his hair. “They’re getting purged?” he asked weakly; his face had gone pale, paler than usual, and was taking on a sickly green tinge as he stared blankly at the ground.

“I mean, that’s why they’re with Jabali. You didn’t know?”

“No, they…” Huon took a breath. “They didn’t tell me. I had to tend to something.”

“For–” Charls checked a timer. “–seven… eight hours?”

_”Shit,”_ Huon gasped, his hands tightening in his hair. “I’ve been gone too long. Take me to them, now.”

Charls sighed and opened their mouth to speak just as their datapad began flashing rapidly. They looked down with a frown and tapped at the datapad several times, then breathed a curse.

Huon leaned in, doing his best to make sense of the medical jargon. “What? What is it?”

Charls shook their head and kept tapping at the datapad. “Their monitors just went wild. I don’t know what Jabali’s doing in there, but whatever it is, it’s causing them a lot of pain. Moreso than earlier.”

“…Earlier?” Huon whispered, his voice suddenly hoarse. “They were in pain  _earlier_ and nobody thought to come find me?”

“That’s not important right now, Huon – don’t argue with me. I’m headed back to the Orbiter; you can come with.”

——————————————————————————————

The entrance to Jabali’s Orbiter remained sealed as Charls and Huon approached. Surrounded by the hum of machinery, Huon wasn’t sure if the faint screaming he heard was his imagination or not. Beside him, Charls was in the process of entering a keycode to bypass Jabali’s security.

“It’s going to be another minute or two,” they told him, glancing between their datapad and the Orbiter’s console. “I’m not in his system yet, so I can’t use facial recognition to gain access. This code is only usable once, too, so…”

As Charls trailed off and fell silent, Huon stepped closer to the entrance. “Are they going to be okay?” he asked quietly.

He didn’t need to look to know that Charls had paused entering the keycode and ignored the flash of embarrassment, painfully aware of his sudden vulnerability. The doctor said nothing for a moment, then sighed. “I don’t know,” they admitted. “I’ve never seen the aftermath of Jabali’s work. I deal with chemistry and medicine; I’m not a Void healer like he is. All I can say is that I’ll do whatever I can to make sure they’re okay when they come out.”

Charls resumed their work and Huon flexed his hands impatiently, one leg bouncing. He glanced over at the doctor, then at the camera set into the Orbiter’s hull.

To his surprise, the camera moved. The lens flickered once, twice, three times, and a panel slid open below it. A slim stylus popped out on the end of a rod and a click sounded.

Charls turned to look. “What the fuck?” Their arms dropped to their side. “Huon, what did you do?”

“Nothing! I didn’t do anything! I just looked at the camera!”

Charls stepped closer and frowned. “You activated what  _looks_ like his Orbiter’s facial recognition. That doesn’t usually happen unless someone’s already in the system,” they said, peering up at Huon. “Are you sure you haven’t been on his Orbiter before?”

“I…” Huon blinked at Charls. “I’m certain.”

Both of them jumped at the sound of the door opening, Yaku’’s screaming cutting off further conversation. Huon barely spared Charls a glance before dashing into the Orbiter, calling his lover’s name.

He followed the screaming down into the belly of the ship, ignoring the flash of dark magenta and the greeting from the ship’s Cephalon – at least, until he found himself standing in front of the Transference room doors with no way to open them.

The Cephalon materialized beside him. “Cephalon Vondas kindly requests that Orion remain outside of the Transference room until the Operator is–” Vondas stopped herself; her form flickered twice and she hovered closer, her voice barely audible above the screaming. “You’re not Orion.”

Huon shot Vondas a look. “No, I’m not. Open the door.”

“Cephalon Vondas refuses.”

“Open the door, Vondas,” Charls called, trotting down the ramp to stand behind Huon. “It’s okay. He’s with me. Huon, I’ll be down the hall.”

“Vondas does not like this,” the Cephalon muttered, sounding as if she was contemplating disobedience even as the doors slid open. 

Huon took one step into the room and froze.

There, in the center of the room with their back bent into a painful arch, was Yaku’.

Blood surrounded them, spilling from old wounds once held together by the Infestation but freshly reopened as it was purged from their body. Jabali hunched over them with his back to Huon, one hand on their naked sternum and the other cupped under their head. The Entity spread across the floor, its energy rendering the entire room in a steamy haze. Arcs of electricity jumped over Yaku’’s bare skin, but not with the normal vitality it usually held; instead, it was subdued, almost as if the Entity and Jabali were holding them back.

Jabali turned. Swirling pools of bronze met Huon’s gaze. The world narrowed to include only Jabali and Huon; even Yaku’’s screaming faded into the background.

**_“Get out,”_**  Jabali rasped. His twisted voice grated against Huon’s ears and the Meridian captain flinched at the sound, the world coming back into focus as quickly as it had disappeared.

“Stop hurting them.” Huon’s dry throat broke his own voice as he took a step forwards, then stopped again when the Entity’s viscous fluid thickened further and reared up with a sound like water droplets on hot metal. “Let me go to them.”

Jabali – for it was Jabali in the center of the room, because his bronze stare didn’t pin Huon like Naki’s did – pulled Yaku’’s body towards him and gave a hiss. From where he stood, Huon saw their photic channels swell and burst with a rush of glowing blue fluid. More blood followed shortly after, drowning the blue in violent vermillion that spread further across the Entity and sank into the glowing white.  ** _“Get out.”_**

Before Huon could take another step, Charls’ fingers curled around his elbow and jerked him backwards. “Don’t touch it. It’ll burn you.”

Huon’s eyes flicked to Charls, then to Jabali, who had returned to purging Yaku’. “I have to–”

“Huon,  _no._ The only thing that you can do now is wait. I know it’s hard and I’m sorry, but Jabali has to handle this on his own. You  _cannot_ interfere more than you already have.” 

Charls’ tone brooked no argument – but given that it was Huon, argument was to be had. Huon shook off Charls’ hand and took another step, intent on pushing past the Entity. “I can’t leave them.”

In the span of half a second, Huon went from standing upright to lying flat on his back with Charls leaning over him, a pitying expression written across their face. He felt himself being dragged away from the Transference room, away from Yaku’, and panic rose high in his chest. Though his tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth, Huon protested. “Ch–”

“It’s not permanent. It’s a modified taser. Just… Huon, I know you want to go to Yaku’ and help them, but you can’t. You can wait outside or you can wait in the recovery room, but you can’t go in there. That’s all there is to it.” Charls heaved at the prone Meridian captain again, pulling him out of the Transference room and away from his hurting, screaming lover.

——————————————————————————————

Five hours later, the screaming stopped.

Huon was up out of his seat before Charls, already taking long strides towards the Transference room. Charls, however, darted past him with a datapad clutched to their chest and medical supplies tucked under their arm. “Don’t touch them until I’m done, Huon,” they told him, shooting an inscrutable glance in his direction.

The Transference room doors slid open with a neat  _snick_ and Charls dodged Jabali’s exhausted form to slip into the room. Huon couldn’t even get a glimpse of the room before Jabali collapsed into his arms, shuddering violently with every breath and staring, wide-eyed, at nothing. Huon looked at Jabali, then the closed doors of the Transference room, then back to Jabali as a ragged sob tore itself from the shorter man’s chest.

“I’m sorry,” Jabali began, his fingers tightening in the fabric of Huon’s shirt. “I don’t know what happened, something went wrong and I-I couldn’t do it right, I messed up, I’m so sorry, Huon, they just– I couldn’t– it all went  _wrong_ and then it just went even worse and I couldn’t control it, it was never supposed to be like this, I’m  _sorry.”_

Ice flooded Huon’s veins and he surged past Jabali into the Transference room, only to stop dead at the scene before him: fresh blood streaked not only the floors but the walls as well, painting bright vermillion arcs around the Transference room. Yaku’ laid in the center of the room with Charls knelt over them as the good doctor inspected their unmoving form. 

Charls glanced up at Huon, then returned to dealing with Yaku’. “Don’t come any closer, Huon. They’re okay.”

“They’re not d–” Huon swallowed thickly and took a step forward. “They’re alive?”

Charls’ took on a warning tone. “Huon, stay there. They’re alive and they’re almost stable. Let me work.”

Huon’s fingers twitched but he obeyed, fighting the urge to swoop in and scoop up the motionless form of his lover. He watched intently as Charls’ gloved hands moved across Yaku’’s body, checking their vitals. They pried open the unconscious Tenno’s mouth and tilted their head to the side, allowing more blood to drain before reaching in to gingerly extract several inches of severed tongue.

It was when Huon began to search for the violet lines crossing their skin that he realized their photic channels were gone, replaced by thick scabs – same as their eyestalk, if the blood crusted around their eye socket was any indication. Huon’s heart thudded against his chest and he shifted forwards, fingers twitching in anticipation, his body practically vibrating as his mind struggled to come to terms with the changes.

After a long silence, Charls spoke. “They didn’t lose as much blood as I thought. Seems like most of it was from the Infestation. It was a living organism apart from them, after all; it’s safe to assume that it had its own blood supply.” 

They returned to focusing on stabilizing Yaku’ enough to move them. The gentle hum of medical tools did nothing to soothe Huon’s nerves even as countless cuts and gaping wounds were closed by Charls’ skilled hands. Then, after another long silence, they stripped off one glove and checked their datapad. “…Alright, I think that’s good enough for now. Would you like to carry them to the recovery room?”

Huon blinked at the doctor for a moment, then immediately closed the distance and gathered Yaku’ into his arms. His heart ached at the sight of their damaged body and he pressed his face into their short hair, inhaling deeply as he cradled them against his chest. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he whispered, blinking away tears.

“Huon,” Charls murmured, their ungloved hand reaching out to rest on the man’s bicep, “they’re stable, but I need you to take them to the recovery room, okay? I know you’re hurting, but we need to keep them alive. Outside and to the right.”

Huon nodded and settled Yaku’’s unconscious form more comfortably in his arms. He rocked back on his heels and stood carefully, not wanting to jostle his lover during the short trip to the recovery room. He passed Jabali on the way and nudged the other man’s foot with his, tilting his head towards Yaku’, and continued into the room. 

The room smelled faintly of cleaning supplies and was entirely spotless. In the center of the room was a small cot and a chair beside it; several medical instruments, none of which Huon quite recognized or understood, sat behind the cot. Huon laid Yaku’ on the stark white sheets, pulling up the chair to settle beside them as he laced the fingers of one hand into theirs and kissed the top of their blood-encrusted hand.

Jabali entered the room with Charls trailing behind him and he leaned against the wall, trying to look the part of the tough older brother while simultaneously wiping tears from his face. He pulled his locs to drape over his shoulder and sniffled quietly. “I’m sorry, Huon.”

Huon looked up at Jabali, his own face streaked with tears, and smiled. “They’re alive. That’s what matters. You did your job.”

“I didn’t do it  _right,_ that’s the thing.” Jabali played with his locs, braiding and unbraiding the ends. “I botched it. Worse than I’ve ever done before. Something went wrong, something I… I wasn’t expecting. I’m sorry.”

Huon frowned, leaning back to allow Charls to hook a tube up to Yaku’. “What? What went wrong?”

“I-it’s not for me to say. I’m sorry.” Jabali looked away. “How did you get on my ship?”

“Your ship recognized me. Your Cephalon called me Orion. Who’s Orion?”

Huon watched as Jabali’s eyes went wide, the blush creeping up his neck visible through the patches of vitiligo. “I– Uh, well, y’see, um. Ha-ha. Funny story, but not one for right now. I have, uh, something to attend to? Yeah. I’ll see you, Huon,” Jabali stammered, practically bolting out of the room. “Don’t wreck my ship!”

Huon watched him disappear around the corner, then turned to meet Charls with a quizzical look. The doctor shrugged and kept working; they’d finished hooking cables and tubes up to the many machines and to Yaku’. Charls squinted at their datapad and gave a satisfied grunt, then turned to look at Huon. “If you want to help, you can go get water,” they said. “I need to clean them up.”

Huon stood, reluctantly releasing Yaku’’s hand. “You’re not going to wheel them away while I’m gone, are you?”

Charls snorted and rubbed at a particularly stubborn bit of dried blood. “No. They’ll be here for a few days at the very least. I’d like to move them to my Orbiter, where I can monitor them more closely, but that won’t happen until they’re awake and have their full faculties about them.”

Huon left the room in silence and Charls watched him go, a small smile on their face. They turned back to Yaku’ and patted the prone Tenno gently on the arm. “You’re lucky he’s the one who loves you,” they whispered.

——————————————————————————————

Right when Jabali reached the entrance to his Orbiter (he was fully intent on leaving and taking a breather and maybe having a relaxing meal – stars know he needed it), it slid open to reveal the last person he needed to see right now.

“Hey, handsome,” Orion said with a cheeky grin. “Fancy meeting you here. Mind if I come in?”

Jabali’s face visibly drained of blood. His vision split and he stumbled, grabbing onto the wall for support. Orion’s grin turned to a frown and he began reaching for Jabali, only for the smaller man to lift a shaking hand to stop him. Jabali screwed his eyes shut and blinked several times, his breathing suddenly shallow; the vague shape of Orion leaned down and set something on the floor, then moved closer to Jabali and placed a stabilizing hand on his shoulder.

Jabali shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but only a dry croak came out. He pushed off the wall and shook his head again as if to clear his darkening vision, holding his temples. He could hear Orion’s concerned voice and turned to squint at the crimson-haired man. Orion’s worried face was the last thing he saw before his vision went dark and he collapsed.

To his credit, Orion reacted quickly enough. He caught Jabali just as the smaller man’s knees buckled and lowered him gently to the ground. “Ah,  _shit,”_ he hissed, peeling the Transference suit away from Jabali’s neck to check his pulse and breathing.

“What the fuck are you doing to him?”

Orion startled and curled over Jabali’s unconscious form instinctively. “I’m not doing anything to him,” he said, peering up. “He just f– Wh…at… the  _fuck?”_

A man wearing his face stood at the top of the ramp. Orion watched in slow motion as realization dawned over the other, his expression twisting from shock to horror to fury.

Orion pulled Jabali into his arms and stared down his face double, taking in the details: metal plates covering the ears, staples in the jaw, the wicked scar ripping diagonally across the forehead and nose, the dark sclera… The differences weren’t enough to cancel out the similarities, and Orion – though he wasn’t necessarily vain – had looked in the mirror long enough to know what his face looked like.

——————————————————————————————

Huon knew it, too. The stranger kneeling beside his lover’s brother, gathering him up into his arms, wore Huon’s face and he knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Even without the vitiligo and the streak of white hair that marked them the same, Huon had lived with clones of the same strain for years, long enough to pick out the uniting features between them all.

As far as he was concerned, this man was Grineer, and he was here to hurt Huon’s family.

“Get away from him,” Huon ordered, his voice full of barely-restrained rage.

“How did you get my face? Who are you?”

“Get. Away.” Huon’s hands tightened into fists.

“No!” The stranger pulled Jabali closer; the smaller man was beginning to stir in his arms. “I don’t know who the hell you are or how you got onto this ship and I sure as hell don’t know why you’re wearing my face!”

Jabali’s hand reached up to grab the stranger’s arm. “Orion…? Wh… Who are you talking to?” he murmured, turning to look at Huon. “Oh. Well, fuck.”

“Jabali, who is this?” Orion asked, trying and failing to mask the hurt in his voice. “Why does he look like me? Oh, wait, no, don’t sit up. Jabali, you just passed out, you need to lie down.”

Jabali waved off Orion’s concerns and pressed a hand to his forehead. “I’m fine, I’m just… really fuckin’ thirsty,” he muttered, entirely missing Huon’s body language changing to something significantly more  _predatory._

The massive Meridian captain crashed into Orion like a freight train, actually dragging him  _up_ by the throat and slamming him against the wall. He tightened his grip as Orion scrambled frantically for a weapon and the crimson-haired man elicited a startled squawk. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Huon snarled.

Jabali twisted sharply, his back cracking as he went. “What the fuck, Huon!?” he shouted. “Put him down, he’s not here to hurt us!”

Orion’s fist came down on the plates set into the side of Huon’s head and Orion wrapped an arm around the other man’s neck the moment Huon staggered off-balance. Orion reared back and kicked Huon’s legs out from under him, suspending him by the throat. “Seems like I am, handsome,” Orion grunted.

Huon’s feet scrabbled against the ground and he gripped Orion’s arm with both hands as he sought leverage. For a moment, the only sounds were Huon and Orion’s heavy breathing – eerily similar in the quiet – and Jabali’s hushed pleading for Orion to stop.

Then came Charls, striding out of the recovery room and up the ramp to find the three men in the center of Jabali’s Orbiter. “What the  _literal fuck_ is going on here?” they snapped, already drawing their modified taser from its holster.

“Charls?” Jabali croaked.

“Jabali,” Charls replied flatly. They raised the modified taser and fired twice in quick succession; Huon and Orion collapsed, one after the other. The doctor tucked the taser away and moved to kneel by Jabali, who was beginning to look woozy again.

“Charls, they–”

“Ah-ah, don’t say anything. Lie down.” They pushed him onto his back and produced a flask of water from their suit. “Did you hit your head?”

“I don’t think so,” Jabali murmured, accepting the water gratefully. “I think Orion caught me.”

“Mm. Stay down, you need sleep. You’ve been awake for close to a full day by now, if not more, and you’ve overexerted yourself. Now,” they said, brushing their knees off and going over to Huon and Orion and dragging their twitching bodies away from each other, “would you two like to explain exactly what the fuck is going on?”


End file.
